A Rusted Fox
by General-BOLT
Summary: He left, and society began to walk again without its crutch, but when it becomes available again, it is so easy to lean back upon it. Especially if an old wound opens up. Yes I'm full of myself and think that sounds wise.
1. Wake Up

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in the following story.

There he was…….

Lil' Slugger………

In an open field……

Laughing………..

But this one was different. His bat wasn't bent, and his hat an insignia on it. He lifted his hand and pulled up the visor of the baseball hat to reveal his eyes. They were blue, not golden, and held some warmth to them. And then it shifted.

The moon took the place of the field, and an old man known to some as the ancient master, dress in a swallowtail suit began to speak.

"The new shoes of gold are revealed, and the golden fox's gold rusts away. The mask of blood is pulled off and then……"

Maniwa woke up panting and sweating heavily. It was happening again, he was receiving the messages of the Ancient Master. But he couldn't make out what he had been saying, but he recognized two words. 'golden fox' had been his way of referring to lil' Slugger. 'The shoes of gold' meant the same thing, but what was this mask of blood? Either way, lil' slugger problems meant Tsukiko Sagi was the answer. There was only one way to make sure no other lil' slugger attacks happened…….

Tsukiko woke up late again this morning. She looked around hesitantly, but eventually got up and walked over to her answering machine. There was one message on it, so she pushed the button and a familiar voice was heard.

"C'mon Ms. Sagi, I know you could use some money, what harm could an interview do?" Akio Kawazu, a sleazy tabloid reporter who was always ready to make some fast cash. Although he had a fairly sleazy look, Tsukiko was sure he wasn't as bad as he came across as, but even still she didn't feel like spending any more time with him than was necessary. It seemed like everyday he was pushing for an interview with her. The ring of the phone interrupted her train of thought. She picked it up, wondering who could be calling her.

"Hello?" Tsukiko asked timidly.

"Go to you're father's house, it concerns him." Came a fuzzy voice on the other end. 'Him can only mean one thing, lil' Slugger', her imaginary attacker.

Keiichi Ikari hadn't woken up, he hadn't fallen asleep, he was still awake, the thought of his wife's death still on his mind and the thought of what his belief in one true reality had cost him. He was losing a mental battle with his virtues up against his weakness. What he had said a long time ago had been true, he had been able to get through each day because of his supportive, maybe overly so, wife. He jumped to his feet.

'No! This is not who I am! I will accept reality as what it is, whether or not my trace in it is almost faded!'

As if to answer him, his phone rang.

"Hello, Ikari residence." He was suspicious of anyone calling at this hour.

"Chief, go to the train station. There are some loose ends to tie." Came a fuzzy voice from the other end. Even though he was no longer a detective there was only one person who still called him that.

"Maniwa, is that you? Maniwa!" But there was no answer. Keiichi Put on his old suit and tie and grabbed his pistol. 'If Maniwa really means business then anything could be going on, no sense in not being ready.'

He walked out of his house and towards the station heading out of town, along the way he could hear people talking to one another.

"I did what I thought was best."

"It's not my fault!"

"I was desperate, it had to be done!"

He could see the station now, and Maniwa was standing in front of it. He was never really certain if this new person was Maniwa. He wore a red cape and baseball cap. Over his eyes he wore either sunglasses or a pair of strange, electronic binoculars. He clutched a backpack, in it was a special radio that sent and received signals from a large radio tower. Using it, he was able to pickup noise over any electronic device that used signals, radios, cell phones, he could hear it all, but he could speak to people through them as well.

"Maniwa! What's this all about?" Ikari gave him a look to stare down the great lil' Slugger himself, but Maniwa wasn't even paying attention to him.

"Come on chief, no time to stand there staring." Maniwa jumped onto the back of a cargo car and opened the sliding door. "It's a long trip, and our stop isn't on the schedule.

"That's right, come closer, return to me, renew me, recreate me. My skill at manipulating dreams hasn't worsened one bit." Lil' Slugger floated within his dark confines. "Soon I'll be out, and when I'm done with all of you, you'll be thankful I'm back."


	2. Exile Ended

AN: It's been a while hasn't it. I'm lazy by nature, so I update things slowly. That and I've got sports too, so my days are crowded with practice.

Disclaimer: No character appearing in this fictional story are owned by me.

Tsukiko got out of the taxi she was in and looked around. She hadn't been back to her house in years. She always said she was busy, or that she couldn't find a way to get there, but now things were different.

"Hey! Don't go leaving now, that's 3,280 yen, now pay up!" Tsukiko whirled around to see an angry cab driver. "You made me drive all the way out here, so pay up!" Tsukiko reached into her pocket only to come up empty handed. She didn't have any money on her, and something told her that wasn't a good answer.

"Here." A hand came out, seemingly from no where and handed the man the money. Tsukiko whirled around to see her father. She could barely recognize him, not having seen him in over four years.

"Count yourself lucky girl." The cab driver rolled up the window and drove off in to the country side back towards the city, the only thing still visible being the ad on the side which read, 'Barred from a vacation? Try EXILE ENDED for an affordable return to happiness'. Her father grunted at the cab driver as he left. "Damn tourists, they keep at it like this and the old bastard'll fire me."

"Well Tsukiko it's about time you came for a visit, I hope I didn't frighten you away when you were young." Her father was an old man in his late fifties. He held a pack of 'Mild Seven' cigarettes in his hands and was smoking one at the moment. He drew in a long breath, brought the cigarette away from his mouth and spewed out the smoke. "Well, it's a long walk to the house, you tell me about how you've been all these years."

"All right chief, jump!" Two men, one middle aged, the other in his thirties, jumped off a moving train and shoulder-rolled onto the soft grass. One of the men got up and turned to the other.

"Damnit Maniwa! I'm too old for this." The middle aged man was clutching his shoulder in pain.

"Don't worry chief, It doesn't look broken." The Chief looked at Maniwa in rage.

"I don't care if it's broken, it still hurts like hell! Forget it, let's just get to the Sagi residence." The two men turned around and headed further into the endless plane of grass called the country side. "Hey Maniwa, where the hell do you get the idea of sending me all the way out here?"

Maniwa grinned before answering the question. "It's all part of being a holy warrior. Only chosen ones can defeat this scourge of morals."

Humor aside this greatly worried Ikari. Ever since the lil' slugger epidemic Maniwa had loss his hold on reality and sounded more and more like Makoto Kozuka's self-image. And yet the entire time he was always one step ahead of all the other players. That was what truly worried the chief, he'd bet his detective's intuition on it.

It didn't take much walking to reach the Sagi residence. It was about the same size as most homes and was done in the traditional Japanese style of architecture. They walked up the front steps and knocked on the front door. Some footsteps could be heard and the door open to reveal Tsukiko and Mr. Sagi.

"May I help you gentlemen? Hey, aren't you that fella that was asking about O-" Mr. Sagi suddenly cut himself off and faked a cough. "I mean Lil' Slugger, right?" Maniwa nodded silently.

"We're hear because a sign is about to appear. And as a holy warrior we must see it." Maniwa proclaimed as if he was on a movie set. Mr. Sagi looked at him with an expression of bewilderment. Clearly this city fellow didn't realize it was never a good idea to start the day off with a stiff drink. Ikari quickly spoke so as to pardon Maniwa's absurdness.

"Sorry sir, police slang. We think that an incident may occur soon. We were tipped off this morning. It's probably nothing." Ikari sincerely hoped this man didn't call the real cops down here. He'd be committed to an institution immediately. He was worried about himself really, he was tough, but Maniwa would be in there for a long time if someone found out about his insanity.

"Nothing huh? How rude." A sly, eccentric voice seem to snake it's way through the halls of the Sagi residence. "After all, I'm right here." And it was true. There he was again, lil' Slugger. He was standing in the entrance hall of the house. Everyone except Mr. Sagi gasped. Sagi seemed to take this not only rather well, but with familiarity. A small light though soon came between lil Slugger and the detectives.

"So it's you. I don't care about what you plan on doing. I'm going to do what I planned on from the beginning. So out of my way!" lil' Slugger Swung and smashed his bat into the light. The light seemed to shatter into a thousand iridescent pieces. Lil' Slugger then disappeared through the wall leaving both a flabbergasted Ikari, and a sighing Mr. Sagi.


End file.
